Firhouse Road club suffered sound defeat from Na Fianna
By Daire Walsh
There was disappointment for Ballyboden St Enda’s at Parnell Park on Saturday as the Firhouse Road club suffered a 1-14 to 0-7 defeat at the hands of Na Fianna in a Dublin Senior One Football Championship semi-final.
After losing out to eventual champions Kilmacud Crokes at the same stage of last year’s competition, ‘Boden were hoping to go one better and reach their third senior decider in the space of just four years. Having finished on top of Group Two with two wins and a draw to their name, Kenny Naughton’s side subsequently beat Ballinteer St John’s in a high-scoring quarter-final encounter on September 18.
This seemingly left them primed for a big performance against Na Fianna, who last competed in a county final back in 2005. However, ‘Boden were facing into a stiff breeze during the opening half of their duel with the Glasnevin men and found themselves chasing the game from very early on.
Thanks to early points from Conor McHugh and goalkeeper David O’Hanlon (’45’), Na Fianna laid down a marker in the Donnycarney venue. ‘Boden initially remained in touch, before their northside rivals built further momentum with efforts from Ali Fitzgerald, McHugh and Glen O’Reilly.
Whereas ‘Boden were struggling to create attacking momentum, Na Fianna continued to play with great freedom. Paddy Quinn, O’Reilly, McHugh (two) and David Lacey split the uprights in succession, before their opponents finally got up and running with a Colm Basquel free in stoppage time.
Nevertheless, ‘Boden were 0-10 to 0-1 adrift at the break and had a mountain to climb when the action resumed. The Pairc Ui Murchu outfit did find their feet to an extent at the beginning of the second half with wing-forwards Alan Flood and Basquel both adding points at the end of fine moves.
Yet Na Fianna remained calm and brought an eight-point cushion into the final-quarter after O’Hanlon and Lacey raised white flags either side of a similar effort from substitute Ryan O’Dwyer. Fresh from celebrating his 40th birthday on the previous weekend, Conal Keaney was introduced off the bench to supply renewed vigour to the ‘Boden challenge.
He kicked a fine point to supplement a brace of Ross McGarry scores, but despite having eight-time All-Ireland winner Michael Darragh Macauley within their ranks, ‘Boden couldn’t halt Na Fianna’s march.
Former Dublin underage footballer Lacey had an excellent game throughout and he rattled the net in the 63rd-minute to put the seal on his team’s victory.
Na Fianna: D O’Hanlon; G Farrell, E O’Dea, E Murchan; A Fitzgerald, J Cooper, A Rafter; M Day, P Quinn; D Quinn, A Byrne, D Lacey; G O’Reilly, C McHugh, B O’Leary. Subs: S Caffrey, D Kennedy, Dean Ryan, Donal Ryan.
Ballyboden St Enda’s: D Gogan; B Bobbett, S Clayton, C Flaherty; J Holland, A Gavin, P Dunleavy; L O’Donoghue, MD Macauley; A Flood, J Madden, C Basquel; R McGarry, D O’Reilly, W Egan. Subs: R O’Dwyer, R Baynes, C Keaney, D McCabe, M McDonald.